Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Sokota on November 15, 2008, 08:23:06 am
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Ok well, I am working in collaboration with another person for a GM competition. I feel that we can win, because he is a great programmer, and we eventually have good sprites. With some help from you guys of course. I made this tonight, took me about an hour or so. It started out really bad, because I haven't pixeled anything seriously forever. But it turned out ok. The only problem is, I need Clyde to be much better looking, have a more boyish face, a much better body, and more dynamic overall. Once I get the main sprite done, its going to be on to animating the little guy. So I need all the crits I can get now. After all that smack, here he is:
(http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/3724/clydewipss0.png)
Clyde
I am going for a slightly overexaggerated, cartoon cheery look, sorta like if Ratchet & Clank were sprites. I need help with the eye and face, and the hair as well. I'm pretty happy with the hat, but any crits are welcome.
Sokota
(http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/7269/melstand2oh0.png)
Current Version | Clyde and Mel
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I dont' see any picture
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Wow, I just fell out of my chair. Anyway I'll work from the top down.
Hat:
-Define you light source dont out line it with a darker shade if its sosposed to be lit
-Propeller seemed to high up
-the shapes on the hat needed to be more triangle like
Hair:
-The front of the hair is very unnatural, It looks as though it just flops down.
Face:
-Theres no mouth! He cant breathe. lol
-More shading and also needs highlights
Shirt:
-The arm creates shadow over the body, darken it up.
-Put highlight on bolth the arm and shirt/sleeve.
Shorts:
-Very square
-Need highligts
Feet:
-Look rather big and round
As for color I would just use what you got there its always fun and enjoyable to see what you can do.
Here:
(http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc342/PASSOUT2008/Done-6.gif)
I outlined it in black so it can stand out againts the back ground.
Oh and good luck with the GM competition.
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Wow, I just fell out of my chair. Anyway I'll work from the top down.
What for? ???
Hat:
-Define you light source dont out line it with a darker shade if its sosposed to be lit
-Propeller seemed to high up
-the shapes on the hat needed to be more triangle like
Thanks, it does look better now. You utilized colors better than I did D:.
Hair:
-The front of the hair is very unnatural, It looks as though it just flops down.
Well, I don't know if adding more..whats the word..locks of hair improves it or not. Need more opinions on that.
Face:
-Theres no mouth! He cant breathe. lol
-More shading and also needs highlights
He's not supposed to have a mouth. I had lots of trouble shading the face. Yours is better, but I think that I need help on the eyes, and making them more cutesy and boyish.
Shirt:
-The arm creates shadow over the body, darken it up.
-Put highlight on bolth the arm and shirt/sleeve.
Erm, now the torso looks like it has chunky noise. I dunno, just me. I'll try to improve it. I don't even like the anatomy much, but not sure how to change it, and keep it cartoonish and caricatured.
Shorts:
-Very square
-Need highligts
Yeah, I realize the anatomy is very bad. Thanks for the help.
Feet:
-Look rather big and round
They are supposed to, but maybe I could make them slightly smaller and rework them somehow.
As for color I would just use what you got there its always fun and enjoyable to see what you can do.
Here:
(http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc342/PASSOUT2008/Done-6.gif)
I outlined it in black so it can stand out againts the back ground.
Oh and good luck with the GM competition.
Thanks for all the help. I need more opinions/help though. I'm kinda dissatisfied with the whole thing, as I want it to look dynamic and more 3dish. Also, I'm working on not adding any outlines, especially black, and I think that it might detract from your edit as well. But thanks for everything! Will try to take things into account, and will post an update later today, I think, addressing those issues.
Sokota
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Yeah I don't know much, just make it how you see it.
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Eh, I need more help on this! I have a timetable, so I need this sprite to look as good as possible asap. Anymore crits suggestions before I work on revising it?
Sokota
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that looks like he has blue pee and wee'd his nappy theres no leggings for those shorts :lol: change the background too saurated its would be better using the dark green in the gm editor
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Well, started over with the same palette (Not too worried about colors yet), and just starting throwing blobs of color around, and this is what came out. I love it loads more than the other one, and it's much closer to what I envisioned the character as, but the anatomy is still wonky, and now he looks more iso than platform. I wanted a more 3/4 platform sprite, but I think the angle is too much. I need help now. I'm not sure how to place the arms or legs, and I need to make it so that the angle is a bit more platform. But, enough negative things. Do you like the new hat/hair?
(http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/6786/clydewiprg8.png)
Sokota
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i preferred the first one, i don't really think the new one has as much character, id suggest looking into some street fighter sprites, the style is relatively simple but effective, i think your problem is your looking at the whole thing while your drawing, it'll work much better if you focus on individual parts till they look right (obviously after drawing a basic outline) remember to try to draw from references, figure out why different body parts look the way they do.
http://www.geocities.com/skulkraken2002/ go to tsugumo chapter 9, it looks confusing if you skim over it but the effort pays off
also try to work on a more neutral colour like Grey. i might get around to an edit when my mouse stops screwin around
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the answer to your iso character my friend is that its on a isometrical grid
(http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6429/helpo1yg4.png)
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the answer to your iso character my friend is that its on a isometrical grid
(http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6429/helpo1yg4.png)
I realize this, which is why I need help changing it to a more 3/4 platformer sprite. Because the head looks about right, but I'm not sure. Also, 32, I realize it takes practice to get better. Also, I tried doing it by color blobs (Volumes?), and not through black lineart, because that always ends up looking flat. I prefer my newer one, but I just need help making him unstiff and more 3/4 and less isometric.
Sokota
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just a little bit of a suggestion on how to adjust the angle to what i assume you want, just a few quick lines but i think it might help, if you need help with the rendering i can probably spend a bit more time on it and actually come up with something decent
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/The_32nd_day/sokota.png)
where exactly did i suggest practice? i just linked a tutorial and suggested using some reference pictures
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just a little bit of a suggestion on how to adjust the angle to what i assume you want, just a few quick lines but i think it might help, if you need help with the rendering i can probably spend a bit more time on it and actually come up with something decent
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/The_32nd_day/sokota.png)
where exactly did i suggest practice? i just linked a tutorial and suggested using some reference pictures
Tutorials...help...you...practice? Practice was a general term for the things you suggested to me. Anyways, it's not worth an argument. But yes, that is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much, now to go and implement it. Thanks for the help. And when people say "render" about pixel art, just what exactly do they mean? Because in mind, I only know about 3D rendering, which would use a program to render an image. Is rendering simply applying shading, dithering, and AA?
Sokota
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basically, it just means adding shade and light, defining shape and volume with various techniques
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Thought so. Anyways, thanks to your post, and the help of a friend, I was able to come up with this:
(http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/1862/clydewiprg8wb4.png)
I really like the style change, so back to the black outlines. The game is cartoony anyways. So, I guess now I just need more defined pixel crits, like on the arms, and tips on the shading. Thanks for the help!
Sokota
Edit: Forgot to update the palette in that image, because the red is darker in the palette than it is in the image. My bad.
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those drak colors rae making him look evil >:(
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Well, worked on making it less pillowshadedish. Also, made another character. Mel is her name. Crits?
(http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6780/melstandaq4.png)
Clyde and Mel
Sokota
Edit: Also, realized that Mel is a bit more flat looking than Clyde. I think it's her skinniness, but I'm wondering what to do about it. Also, I'm really like this comicbook style.
Double Edit: I tried a few quick remedies to try to help out Mel. What do you think? Edited Mel is farthest left. Btw, I'm a bit confounded with the breasts on Mel, because Clyde is only 10, and Mel is supposedly 11 or 12. So what do you think of those? Nevermind, they are fixed/solved.
(http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/4430/melstand2ag9.png)
New Mel | Mel | Clyde
(http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/7269/melstand2oh0.png)
Triple Edit: Just quickly changed the eyes. What do you think? I much prefer Clyde's eyes now, much younger looking and boyish. Mel is more serious now. What do you guys think? Sorry for all the edits; here's hoping I get some replies by the time I wake up tomorrow.
Sokota
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Ughh, I'm not liking the colors or anything at all. Might have a edit or re-do for you later.
The blockiness, black outlines and porportions on the limbs are really irking me.
I think the 100% green background isn't helping on edits either.
Take a look at what happens when you look at these guys with different background colors-
(http://e.imagehost.org/0450/BGcompare.gif)
They just look completely flat.
(http://e.imagehost.org/0975/Boxfixer.png)(http://e.imagehost.org/0719/Boxfixer.png)(http://e.imagehost.org/0972/Boxfixer2x.png)
Here's my idea, my colors don't contrast enough yet, but whatever.
Let's get out of M$paint colors first off. Stay away from them, I will pay you to. STOP using 100% saturation. I will find you, and, and, do something bad, ok? Whew.
Next, we'll keep an outline, but it won't be RGB 0,0,0. There doesn't need to be an outline around everything like a cartoon.
Then we'll just redo the lines and everything completely.
We don't have enough pixels to define leg shape, leave it alone. If you don't have enough pixels to define anatomy convincingly, just don't even try.
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*Sigh* And I thought I was making progress D: . Apparently not, but I still like my comicbook style. Your edit looks faded, but you mentioned that already. Also, I thought the legs were the strong suit, especially on Clyde...And had just made these. Well, I edited Mel to look less flat. I think it was the straight dress. Also, as I mentioned, I like the style, but it seems so hard to please everyone. Comic book characters tend to look a bit flat. Or is that just me? Also I think the only MSPaint color I used was the default Yellow, aside from that, those are *gasp* Custom Colors in MSPaint. Is that a problem? ??? Anyways, here are these:
(http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8485/melstand2ue0.png)
New Mel|Gasmask Clyde|Clyde
Sokota
Edit: Oh yeah, about the greenbackground. Having difficulties getting Alpha to work in GIMP. I know of another program that's really easy, but its a trial thingy. (Easy Gif Animator). And usually sprites made for GameMaker have this green so that you can set transparency in GameMaker. That's the reasoning. Yes it's a hideous color, but that's why they use it for transparency.
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Ah, but that is doing it backwards, I mean, it's very easy for you to change the background color when working on it, and when saving it for posting here. When you need to export it for gamemaker you can change it to green, not until then.
I promise, you will need to do that if you want to get a clear image of how your colors really look! Pure green or pink are often used as transparency colors in many games and game making programs, but that doesn't mean that everyone who has made games for these worked on a green background. Neither should you. Contrast works in mysterious ways, something that's on a very saturated background seem less saturated and vice versa, so make sure you work on a neutral background color. Changing it every once in a while never hurts either.
If you like your style, then try to improve on that, but never forget to be open to critique. If enough people (at least on this board, where people know what they're talking about) say it's wonky, you'll have to assume that changing it at least could improve it.
Draco9898: UGHH, I'm not liking your unpleasant tone or anything at all. Apparently you have good critique to give so why not try to give it in a more pleasant way? Or do you enjoy when people put "*Sigh* D:" when replying to your critique?
Do not crit just to vent your personal feelings about the piece, crit with the intention of the subject of critique actually being able to take it to heart.
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Ah, but that is doing it backwards, I mean, it's very easy for you to change the background color when working on it, and when saving it for posting here. When you need to export it for gamemaker you can change it to green, not until then.
I promise, you will need to do that if you want to get a clear image of how your colors really look! Pure green or pink are often used as transparency colors in many games and game making programs, but that doesn't mean that everyone who has made games for these worked on a green background. Neither should you. Contrast works in mysterious ways, something that's on a very saturated background seem less saturated and vice versa, so make sure you work on a neutral background color. Changing it every once in a while never hurts either.
If you like your style, then try to improve on that, but never forget to be open to critique. If enough people (at least on this board, where people know what they're talking about) say it's wonky, you'll have to assume that changing it at least could improve it.
Draco9898: UGHH, I'm not liking your unpleasant tone or anything at all. Apparently you have good critique to give so why not try to give it in a more pleasant way? Or do you enjoy when people put "*Sigh* D:" when replying to your critique?
Do not crit just to vent your personal feelings about the piece, crit with the intention of the subject of critique actually being able to take it to heart.
At least that was encouraging. So I'll change the background color. Though Draco's gif. made good work of that. I'll mess around with backgrounds and whatnot. I know my colors stand out/are bright, but isn't that what comics are all about? Unless I'm delusional. I'm not trying to be defensive, but I honestly think that so far, what I've come up with, is the best for that style. I've been asking other people off this forum, (And yes, they would be less professional, in terms of pixel art) and they seem to like them. And they are my target audience. So I'm a bit stumped on what to do. Also, I have a deadline for these sprites, so keeping them simpler will allow me to get more done, instead of having a few realistic WIPs. Does anything think it has improved since version 1? And, if enough people agree about something, I'll probably change it, but so far, I've gotten a few different replies about different things. I've even tried working without outlines *1st and 2nd attempts*, but the outlines helped me get my perspective, which I still have to work on it, for other sprites. I do have a completely unrelated question though: Would this perspective be fine with a dead on sideview platformer backgrounds/tiles?
Thanks for the good words, Jad.
Sokota
And once again, I'm not trying to be defensive. That only closes your mind. However, I am stating my reasons for doing things. ;)
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i don't think any comic i've seen has used super saturated colours, try dropping the saturation to about 130-200 and in your pallet and increase the saturation as you increase the luminosity, this keeps a bright feel but doesn't leave your eyes burning. In case you didn't know thats what people mean by contrast (that and making the luminosity further apart).
And if the other forum your talking about happens to be the game maker community, don't listen to them, they rarely know what there talking about (as far as pixel art goes), and praise anything that wasn't made with the circle tool in paint.
as far as perspective goes, only use this perspective on idle sprites and a more side on view for animations
and yes, as far as technique goes it does look better, but i still prefer the first one.
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You're definitely taking a step in the right direction, it's moving towards a far better outcome.
Anyway, the first issue that needs to be adressed is contrast and saturation. I know you want your colours extremely bright to look like comic book characters, but that doesnt mean they can't be saturated. Contrast. Alot of your colors have a good amount of contrast, but such tones like your skin tones need more contrast. Otherwise you're fine with this issue. :)
Heres a quick edit adressing a few issues
(http://i33.tinypic.com/23tnx29.png)
The pose. The pose you're trying to go for is good and will work right, but the way youve brought it out can be improved. I'm liking what you're going for, i just changed it up a bit.
Anatomical issues. The headshape is more octagonal than anything else, so i changed it a bit into what it should like more.
face issues. a few of these, made a edit as to what they could like.
I'm not awesome at pixel art but i tried my best to give you an example of a step in the right direction. I like the direction you're going in though :)
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Raytheon: Wrong topic? Nevamind.
(http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8485/melstand2ue0.png)->(http://lorne.lastchancemedia.com/Images/two/Tricksandcrits/24.gif)
Edit on tha' girl. Hands are hidden 'cuz I couldn't get 'em looking good :-[. I uh, couldn't tell how old the girl is supposed to be so I made it so she's in her mid-to-late teens or so.
First off: Forms forms forms they usually take precedence above just about everything else. Make sure you're not thinking in symbols and the surfaces in your picture make sense. Most prevalent example of this would be in yo' gal's chest ::) Looks like you're thinking of a woman's chest as just a W (imagine that's a smooth handwritten W and not a angular typeface W :ouch:) tacked onto their torso, which ain't what it is! Breasts have form! They occupy space :P! Not only that, but shirts obscure the form.
See: http://shop.layup.ch/images/shai_girl_shirt_grey_01.jpg
Black outlines are also frowned upon because they serve as a crutch, replacing the need for you to use form. This is especially true of internal lines where they can really clutter up the picture. That's not to say black outlines are bad, but just make sure you're not using outlines and symbols to mask a lack of form in your picture.
Next: Pose! Avoid having perfectly straight arms and legs. It's pretty much guaranteed that if you' have straight arms or legs you won't have a dynamic pose, not too mention I don't think it's possible for human arms to be perfectly straight. Effectively, arms in a neutral stance are closer to a ( than a |. Legs are little more complicated, but same basic thing. If you want to read more on dynamic poses, Niklass Janson has some things to say on his art tutorial: http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm#line_art
Lastly, hair: The pig tails look kinda weird. The far one wouldn't be so far forward. It looks like you moved it forward to make sure all of the girl is visible in a 2 dimensional view. They also seem to droop kinda weird. I think the curve would be much sharper down. Hair, after all, is pretty bendy :crazy:.
Also, you've got a lot going on here! There are pigtails, a headband, and hair draping over said headband! The thing to keep in mind is: Usually with pig tails almost all of a person's hair ends up IN the pig tails. I think this kinda conflicts with the hair outside the headband (Actually a headband probably wouldn't do anything with pig tails anyway!), so in my edit I switched it out so there's less hair draping over the headband, and only a ponytail.
Whoo, my critiquing brainpart has gotten rusty :( Hope this was still useful for you.
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Jad, Ok, im sorry, I was a grumpy toucan that day. My apoligies if I came off like sand-paper
Liking gills edit on the girl.
Don't use MSPaint, Sokota...at least I wouldn't :o You need fast access to all 16 million colors so you can make the right decisions about your pallete
Just change it back to the green transparencey color when we are done.
Also hear me out about the legs, we don't have enough pixels to make the legs have shape. It looks like he has toothpick legs.
You argument for the super-sat colors is: it looks like comic-book style. Go look at any comic books you own or google comics. Any good comic will try to make their art look as good as possible, and thus won't have saturated-burn-your-eyes colors.
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Don't use MSPaint, Sokota...at least I wouldn't :o You need fast access to all 16 million colors so you can make the right decisions about your pallete
Don't fire up that discussion, MSPaint has just as easy access as any other program. It's good to work with, so don't change to something foreign to you until you find it necessary yourself. Now Sherman's critique is a valuable one in here :)
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Thank you all for the great critique, especially Sherman Gill. Thank you, Raytheon for your being the only one to like anything about it so far. :P Ok, well, I have bad news and slightly better news. Due to time constraints, I'm not changing the style, as suggest by Sherman Gill's really good edit. I'm keeping the simple, almost-noob outlines and shading, but I may tone the colors down a bit. *I still like them, anyways D:* And although the style is set, I still need lots of help! I'm starting on a run cycle for Clyde, which needs more frames
but I'll post it anyways to get early feedback. Nevermind. Needs a wee bit more work, but I will post it, all four frames, wee. But, I still have a lot of other sprites to make as well. And one more thing:
You should do the animations in sideview
Oh. Crap?
Thanks so much again, and I may rework these after the competition, but I don't know. Also, I know about the program wars, don't really care, to be honest. I've seen awesome stuff done with Paint. And Draco, about the legs, I like them like that. Adds more character, I think. Also keep in mind that for this whole game, kinda going for a Calvin and Hobbes-esqueness. So yeah. Anyways, here is the run cycle and a toned down Clyde:
(http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/7066/clyderunwipfe9.gif)
Only two key frames done, I'm afraid. :'(
(http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7338/clydesatcomparisonux7.gif)
Saturation Comparison. I dropped the Sat by 40 on every color, since someone mentioned that the contrast was pretty good. Better?
Sokota
More Direct Comments:
@Sherman Gill: About the breasts, well I "loled" when I read that. It's because the girl is much younger than you thought her to be. I was trying to fix them, but didn't look right for her only being 11 or 12. So yeah, It was either do a very light breast or none at all. With none, that area looked kinda empty. Again, not being defensive, just stating what I did and why. Well, you can see what I did, but anyways. Your edit on her was amaz-zing-zing. But yeah, not the style we decided to go with. :-[
@Raytheon: Anatomy isn't a huge issue, since they are more comicbookish *Not graphic novel*, but I can see where your coming from. I did end up changing the sat, closer to what your edit looks like, I think.
@32: I wish I would have read that animation tip sooner, but I don't think I've strayed too far. Also, yes I'm more prominent on the GMC, but I know their habits when it comes to pixelart. Why do you think I'm posting this here? :P Pixelation is much better in terms of maturity and professionality with discussions. So yeah. I've tried toning down the sat, hope you guys approve!
Once more, thanks for the help again!
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I made topic on the GMC about animation recently:
http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=406787
I hope it all makes sense.
I coppied alot of it pretty much directly from the Animators Survival Kit, but just very brief and in my own words.
It might help though? :\
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I made topic on the GMC about animation recently:
http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=406787
I hope it all makes sense.
I coppied alot of it pretty much directly from the Animators Survival Kit, but just very brief and in my own words.
It might help though? :\
Crap just edited than bam, another post. Well, thanks Opacus. I'm trying to do all those extremes, inbetweens, and the passing, instead of just doing random frames. So far, I only have the extremes, but it looks like I might have to redo them. *Will eventually, I'm sure* Thanks for the great tutorial! I'll review it as I work on Clyde.
Sokota
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When doing the extremes, make sure you make 4: extreme, passing and then mirror versions of both. A tip is to ignore the legs at the moment and animate by only blotting out the feet and knees. (if done in a program with instant animation preview, like graphics gale) You can edit it on the fly much more easily that way, and get the motion right before you go ahead with more difficult stuff.
Make sure his head stays in place during the animation, right now he's moving forward with the motion, that might be hard to animate right, I suggest you keep him still in horizontal space while animating him.
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Ok, so here's an updated run cycle. I was sick the last three days and didn't want to be on the compy much. I just made these frames, and I need to work on a passing, then two more inbetweens, to get my full run cycle. But I feel something is wrong already, and want to fix anything before moving on. Hopefully I can get some quick replies, as this animation is crucial to the game. Also, I need to be smooth, and almost perfect. Here it is, I made two more 'extremes', right? Heh, I don't even know for sure what category those frames fall in too. Here it is:
(http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/5961/clyderunwipkp3.gif)
Enjoy! I don't even walk to think about a girl's walk cycle for Mel. :'( So yeah. Also, I might start working on a few more characters.
Sokota
Edit: Now that I look at it, its the arm closest to us that is throwing it off. I think I did the legs pretty good, but what did I do wrong on the arms, exactly? Also, when/if you edit, please post it in gif and strip form. Thanks for all the help!
Double Edit: Also, this is the first walk cycle I have done seriously. So I'm sure there are alot of flaws, but that's what this forum is for, right? ;D
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The entire thing, well, it just looks weird.
It looks as if he's stuttering in place, not even making contact with the ground
watch a person walk and compare it to your animation
Are you throwing your frames into the animation as you work or are you trying to do it all at once?
(http://e.imagehost.org/0947/wlk01.gif)
If you need less frames, take out recoil.
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Hey thanks for the illustration. That's gonna help. Anyways, I said it did look weird. It does need help. Haha. Anyways, I had done two key frames, *Scroll up to see that post* and then threw in two 'idle' frames for inbetweens. But this time, when I made the inbetweens, the idle made it look weirder, so took it out. Like I said, I'll probably have to do the whole thing over again. No that's not too many frames, but isn't 9 a weird number for a walk cycle? Also, please remember this is the first walk I've done in a long time, and my first real walk. I'll try to get a new version up today, and possibly post another character WIP. Thanks for the help, Draco. (You sounded so much more cheery :blind:)
Sokota
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You need 4 frames as a minimum. If you want less, use 2 rather than 3, though it will look like he's either skating/gliding or swapping legs unnaturally fast (go for the skating/gliding, taking contact positions from image posted above) however, if you have these 2 frames, take the passing frames from the image above to create your basic animation. Besides, this is a platform game isn't it?
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Well still working on this, and still as frustrated as ever. That's a normal thing with walk/run cycles, right? :P Well, I think I have better idea of what it should look like, thanks to Draco's post. But, my walk is still very bad. I actually think I have the legs going well, its the arms that throw it off. Also, made 2 different cycles; one with/without the idle pose thrown in, (Which throws the cycle off, I think), and then made just the legs of each as well.
(http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/8567/clyderunwipzz3.gif)(http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/1031/clyderunwiplegsky9.gif)
With Idle Pose
(http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/365/clyderunwip2oq3.gif)(http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/5995/clyderunwiplegs2rh4.gif)
Without Idle Pose
So yeah, as you can see, I think the second set is better, with the legs by themselves being the best. So apparently I need help on the arms. I also probably need to make two more frames, but not sure what to do with that either. Crits? Help? Edits D:? I'm sorry if I seem like I'm not improving. I really am trying to make this good, so yeah...I feel like a noob, but oh well. All help is appreciated. Oh, and that line isn't a shadow. It's the line for the 'ground'.
Sokota
@TrevoriuS: Yeah, this game is a platformer. I might try to do a falling animation or jump pose later today. Kinda sick of working on Clyde, to be honest. :-[
Edit: Oh yeah, also I noticed that his forefront foot didn't hit the ground when I made the ground, so I'll have to work on that, but an edit or two might be helpful. Thanks!
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The first frame, why do you have it so his hand is showing thru the back? it would be obscured by his front side ( at his current angle-ledge)
You need to look at every frame and ask if it's helping it look like a run cycle or not. If a frame looks weird you need to adjust it and keep pasting it back into your animation until it looks right.
Here's another example, it looks perfect for you, because:
1. It's a kid
2. It's "cartoony"
3. It looks correct
(http://e.imagehost.org/0870/run_cycle.gif)
Here is a trick- Try mirroring your animation so your guy is running left like the animation above...Does it look weird? then something has gone wrong
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Hey Sokota,
I think your run is close to looking good. Here is what I would do (though I know little so take it with a grain of salt...):
1. Your run (without idle), is 6 frames. The chart that Draco posted uses 8, which seems like a good amount. The two frames you are missing are the "recoil" ones, which are pretty important as they make it look like the character is impacting the ground. In your animation now, that frame is skipped and the leg is drawn back without even touching the ground. This makes it look like he is kind of gliding. So, add in those recoil (or "landing") frames and I suspect it will look a lot better.
2. Don't recycle the same frames over and over. Right now your frame 6 is just a copy of frame 3, and that makes it look weird. It looks like the nearer leg is is extending twice, and the far leg never gets extended out. We can tell the legs apart because of the highlight in the nearer one, and the line along the back of his shorts.
3. The arms should move like a pendulum in opposite directions of the legs. Once you make a new frame for the back leg extending out, then the arms should be in the opposite position as them. Right now, because you are recycling frames, his right arm only goes to his side and back, and his left only to his side and front.
4. Don't straighten the arms. In your frame 1, the arm is nearly straight, and it pointing forward with the leg. Keep the going in mostly opposite directions so the character looks balanced.
Also, don't use the idle frame in the walk, because think about it. Are both your feet ever together on the ground while you're running? No. The only time the legs are together is when one is "passing" the other, and it is bent at that time.
Hope this helped, good luck.
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Draco, I understand. I was following your other image. I'm working on it, so yeah. Nacl, thank you, thank you. Great advice there, I'll be sure to try to implement it! I got sick of the run for today/tonight, so I decided to take a break and make another character, Gribbs. He will be a 'weapons' seller per se, and I needed to look welderish. I like what I have so far, but I know there's a few things wrong with it. As you can see, I'm keeping the style, so all critique will need to be geared towards that, for now. I need help with the apron below his belly, his left arm, and maybe some other general tips. He'll be behind a counter, so I'll doubt you ever see below his groin area, but dunno. Anyways, here he is:
(http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/1967/gribbsstandzw6.gif)
Clyde meet Gribbs ;D
All critique is welcome! For the run and now for Gribbs!
Sokota
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Hey Sokota, I made some images to show how I personally would animate a character, in this case Mel. Maybe other people use superior techniques, and if so I'd like for them to share. This is just the system I pieced together from reading and looking at critique on this forum. There has been some good critique, especially from Sherman, about the style and such. I'd listen to all he said, if not retroactively for these characters, for any future characters you make. I actually learned, and need to apply a lot of what he said as well.
Anyway, here are they are:
(http://i38.tinypic.com/2dul634.png)
I draw some stick figures, and then animate them so I can see what it looks like.
(http://i37.tinypic.com/104q8v8.png)
I throw some shapes on top of the figures, and sometimes animate again, to make sure it looks right. Then I just edit these shapes around until they look right.
(http://i37.tinypic.com/316kfwm.png)
Finally I draw the actual detail on top. I didn't spend a great deal of time on this, so they are too smalll, but I think you understand. I do this in graphics gale, with a different layer for every step so that I can start over plenty, without losing all the work I've done.
Also, I kind of like that character design. Mel's outfit is pretty 80's retro, it's cool. If you improve your execution I think you'll make some neat stuff.
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Wow thanks. That's like a tutorial in itself! :D Thanks for breaking it down for me. I was trying to just do the detail, so I think I lost action/lines/flow somewhere in there. I'm currently using MSPaint, and GameMaker to animated my images, then throw them into Easy Gif Animator to add alpha and infinite looping. I'll prolly end up switching to GraphicsGale after this project, as I am comfortable working as I am, just need to improve my speed. So yes, thank you. I will try you method, and post run WIPs as I go along. I need to get this done ASAP, so yeah. What do you think of the new guy? ::)
Sokota
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Well, I've been super busy over the Thanksgiving holiday, and so I haven't had much time to correct things. However, I did start work on an enemy, which is slightly creative. It's suppose to be a Portapotty on wheels which sprays sludge out of RV-esque hoses. I still have to redo the run, which I'm dreading, but it needs done. But I need critique on Potty and Griggs. Moreso on the potty design: shading/function/ideas. I'm not too happy with the color for him, as well as shading and details and such, but the color was taken right out of a jpeg photo of a real one!! So yeah. Thanks so much, and here he is, with temporary arms, at the current moment:
(http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/1856/portastandva0.png)
PortaProblem
Sokota
If you're wondering, the enemies need to be creative and 'cute'. This is a casual game for an environmental theme, so I'm taking a somewhat unique approach to it, I think. if you want to know more about the game, PM me. It's still barebones due to lack of sprites. And I have a question. What is the best way to go about doing a background? Should I draw it and photoshop it? Or should I straight up pixel it? The latter will take a lot longer, I think. But I wanted your guy's opinions. Thanks for the help so far!